


Ladynoir (July 2020)

by Jaded_nobody



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Ladynoir July
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25196251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaded_nobody/pseuds/Jaded_nobody
Summary: Drabbles for the 10th and 11th of Ladynoir (July 2020): Breakdown and Comfort.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

Marinette knew it. Tikkit knew it.

She was hitting her limit. 

It wasn’t unusual for there to be an akuma attack twice a day now; to say nothing of the increasing difficulty, Hawk Moth would have won if he had opened this way. She was so far behind schoolwork she had to all but cease designing; she would be failing if it weren’t for Adrien- the boy was behind on some of his schoolwork too so they often meet to cover each other's openings. 

Lila and her have entered a cold-war; one that Lila is slowly but surely winning. The italian has learned her lesson about telling large explosive lies, so she has slowly picked at her friendships. Marinette thought she would be devastated- only to find she doesn’t care.

The pain of having Alya dismiss her misgiving as jealousy strained their bond to begin with; when she found her entire class- except Adrien- hanging off Lila’s every word she just detached herself. It was only natural Tikki assured her; a relationship is a two way streak so without one side giving the other couldn’t keep intimacy going if she wanted to.

Her detachment meant she was truly on her own now; just as Lila promised. She may not have to worry about the pain of betrayal but that didn’t make her feel any less lonely. Adrien, her long time crush, was always too busy to spend time with. From what she could gather he was having his friendship with Nino strained by Lila too and he found the class far less friendly than he had at the beginning of the year.

Home wasn’t even a sanctuary from stress anymore either. The moments she didn’t have schoolwork as an excuse her parents had her working in the bakery- to be fair they weren’t forcing her; Marinette had always been far too giving. 

She was deep in the red on what she could even give anymore.

None of her struggles on their own were more than she could handle; the sheer number of them was beyond her scope. Her hero work, school drama, and domestic issues all exacerbated each other in a constant cycle. If she tried to take time from one to deal with her other issues than it would become larger which would mean she had to deal with that only for everything else in her life to get far worse. 

Marinette frustration just grew and grew. Her classmates were unappealing to her, she didn’t even care about Lila’s lies anymore; it wasn’t Adrien that kept her from responding but resentment at the class’s casual apathy for her after everything. She and Alya talks were beginning to resemble civil acquaintances than best friends.

Her study sessions were a major reprieve, crush or not.

“You are my angel Adrien,” Marinette blushed after realizing what she said.

“I’m repaying the favor for your help in literature.”

“That class is easy, you would have been fine without me.”

“Having someone to talk to makes reading it far more enjoyable; anime wouldn’t be nearly as fun without the fandom.”

The two would have laughed if a ring didn’t cut in first.

“Sorry, I have to go. Emergency modelling shoot.”

That was disappointing; it was increasingly common though. Maybe Gabriel had decided to stop taking chances with his son’s safety given the increasingly dangerous akuma attacks so wants every second of his day accounted for.

Marinette heard her mother bid farewell to Adrien before predictably coming up.

Sabine asked if Marinette could help them bake a large order of pastries they had gotten. Marinette wanted to say no. Yet she was bred and raised to only say yes, how could she say no? 

This continuous cycle of isolation, increasing work, and involuntary distancing from Adrien built up steam. There had to be a release; in such cases the most convenient release is, unfortunately, those who are unconditionally loving.

“Good job my lady.” Chat held his fist out. He had bags under his eyes, evidence the new akuma attacks were stressing him out too.

“Good job,” she replied drowsily in a haze. She wanted nothing more than to sleep.

She leapt off to go home only to have Chat cut her off.

“Are you ok?” He looked genuinely worried. “These days you seem moodier and moodier by the day. Are you getting enough sleep?”

“There isn’t much to be done on that.” She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “You know I can’t go into this.”

“I know, so I was wondering if we could hangout, without mentioning Hawkmoth once. We could-”

“I’m not going to date you,” she replied brusquely. 

“This isn’t a date.” Chat Noir frantically assured. “I just want to be there for you. You haven’t let me in, you haven’t been talking to me, you haven’t. . . “ Chat Noir’s voice trailed off.

Her memories assaulted her all at once.

“You haven’t been responsible.” Madame Bustier chided her. A stern expression staring down at her.

“You haven’t been appreciated by these losers ever.” Lila taunted. A cruel smile stretched across her face.

“You haven’t been helping us lately.” Her parents scolded. Disappointment written on their countenances. 

“Shut up!” 

Chat Noir jumped back at her tone; he shrank back at her glare.

“You are just another chore for me,” she began, each word deliberate and precise. “There has never been a time when I thought I could confide in you. You are completely immature; your charm is annoying. I wanted to be your friend once, what a mistake that was.” Ladybug spat at his feet.

“I am too busy to help you play the hero to a helpless maiden because I have to actually do both of our jobs. I don’t want to know who you are, he is probably just as useless as you. Why else would you act like this if not to mask your obvious insecurities.” After she finished speaking she didn’t even spare him another look; she turned to disappear into the burning sky. 

She vaguely heard choked cries behind her. 

Ladybug knew she would regret what she did in the morning. Tikki would be horrified at what she did. She would be horrified at what she did. The hole inside her would only grow at this, Chat Noir genuinely was trying to be helpful.

She knew this. At the moment she was too angry to feel guilty. That could wait until the morning when she would wake up in a cold sweat. She would cry, covering her mouth to not wake up her parents. Tikki would pat her cheek whispering into her ear. 

With Tikki's consoling, Marinette made it to school. The first thing she noticed was Adrien's empty desk.


	2. Comfort

Marinette texted Adrien asking if he was okay.

I just felt a little sick. 

She quickly asked if she could come over to check on him.

Am I a coward?

Adrien reluctantly picked up after the fifth ring.

“Why do you think you’re a coward?” Marinette immediately queried. 

“I regret telling you to just let Lila do whatever she wants. I should have-”

“I don’t care about that anymore,” Marinette said firmly. “If anything it showed me who my real friends were. I won’t lie that it was the wrong attitude to have but I forgive you.”

“It’s not just that,” Adrien sighed. “It’s my father, Lila, and everything in general. I let myself be ordered on how to behave.” 

“You are a minor; you can’t really disobey your father. Besides, your disobedience is the only reason you are in school.”

“That was a sole exception.”

“Nino.” She countered. “Your father doesn’t like him, you still befriended him.”

“Friend,” he muttered. “A colleague who I keep close ties with, I recently let her down. There’s no denying it either. I won’t give you the details because it’s personal but I’ve gone through my memories, I was a bad friend.”

“Then apologize. Be better. I forgave you for your bad advice, I’m sure you didn’t realize you were wrong here. Any mistake made in ignorance can be forgiven.” It’s too bad she made the conscious decision to hurt Chat. There’s no way she would let that cat forgive her.

“. . . you are right,” Adrien said after a long breath. “Please keep notes of what I miss today, if it isn’t too much trouble.” She easily obliged. “Thank you Marinette, I’m going to make things right. I will make things right by you too, you have my word.” Marinette could only imagine the resolute grin.

“Get better.” She smiled before hanging up.

“Sunshine is out?” Alya approached from behind.

“Unfortunately.”

“Hey, me and the rest of the girls are going to compare fashion tips. Want to join us?” Alya flashed a hopeful smile.

“No thanks.” She politely declined what she knew was an attempt to “bury the hatchet” between her and Lila. Alya slinked away not bothering to hide her disappointment.

Marinette mulled Adrien’s words. How would he make things up to her? It didn’t ruminate long before the thought of Chat Noir came crashing back to her. 

She was completely awful to him. Her precious kitty was the one person who had her unconditional affection, she usually found the flirting amusing, the only reason she claimed otherwise was stress. If she didn’t like it then Chat would have stopped doing it. She took on all this responsibility herself, Chat couldn’t help her if she didn’t ask him. 

The worst part was how she left him a wreck on the Parisian skyline. She still hadn’t even sent him a text to check up on him.

Chat was the last person who deserved to be yelled at. Which is why she did it. It was easier to yell at a boy, whose real name you don’t know, who was compliant than anyone she knew in her civilian life.

Marinette gripped her temples in frustration. She forced a calming breath when she felt Tikki nudge her from her purse. Madame Bustier gave her a concern flash before turning back to class; Marinette really didn’t want to have another “intervention” with the woman.

At lunch she sat alone at the cantine as she was becoming increasingly accustomed to. Her solitude was broken up by a stampede of footsteps.

Marinette lifted her head from her lap to see nearly her entire class.

“We are sorry.” Alya led them looking completely apologetic. “You were right.”

“What do you mean?” They couldn’t mean-

“Lila.” Rose said from the crowd. Her gaze was dropping to the floor.

“Adrien posted on Instagram, he linked all of us.”

It was a video compilation of most of the celebrities Lila claimed to have known. They were all quizzed by him and not a single one admitted to ever hearing of a Lila Rossi. He had even tracked down Prince Ali who condemned Lila for her fake activism stating he never heard of her. If she had done even a fraction of the humanitarian work she claimed to have done there’s no way he wouldn’t have.

“Can you forgive us. I took Lila off the Ladyblog.”

Marinette felt herself go teary eye. It really didn’t matter to her Lila was revealed but Adrien had gone through all this effort- for her.

Despite herself her mind went crashing back to Chat.

“Yes.” It wasn’t hard too, she honestly didn’t bear a grudge. “I need to go.” She didn’t care if she got chewed out for skipping.

“Good luck with Adrien.” The rest of the class felt grins coming on. A few of them clapped. 

Was Adrinette about to become canon?

No. Marinette knew she had to get to her feline partner.

She luckily avoided having to skip when an Akuma attack forced the school to close early. During the battle she and Chat operated under frosty professionalism; after the Akuma was vanquished he surprisingly didn’t try to turn away.

“Can we talk?”

The two secluded themselves in a hidden passageway between commercial districts.

“I want to say something,” Ladybug started before he could. “I was wrong. I never should have snapped at you, you didn’t deserve it at all-”

“I did,” he interrupted. “I left you to carry the decisions of this team by yourself-”

“Because I gave you the impress-”

“How wouldn’t you get-”

“Going forward I-”

“No-”

“Will you kids just shut up and talk!” A scream from a window startled them both.

Three heartbeats passed before they settled back into place.

“Chat.” Ladybug smiled softly. “Let’s be together forever. I want to face the world head on together.”

“Yes my Lady.” He returned her smile.

Ladybug and Chat Noir gently pressed their foreheads together. Their lips teasingly close to a kiss.


End file.
